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What REALLY happened when I met Andrew McCarthy from Pretty In Pink!

I’ve worked in radio most of my life so I have met and interviewed HUNDREDS of celebrities…in person, on stage, on the phone, backstage, you name it. Katy Perry, Bradley Cooper, Harry Connick Jr, Ben Affleck, Backstreet Boys, Gwen Stefani, Paul McCartney, Janet Jackson, Selena Gomez, Dennis Quaid, John Legend, Christian Slater and even some of my childhood faves…New Kids On The Block, Duran Duran, Rick Astley and Rick Springfield and those are just SOME of the highlights. It’s not usually a big deal because I’m a professional! 😉 Ok, New Kids were kind of a big deal but I digress! I’m also in Georgia which is now the #3 place in the country for TV and movie filming. Oh and did I mention that I live in a way out in the country neighborhood called Serenbe where they film commercials AND movies…like a little one you may have heard of called Divergent. Plus they also have the Serenbe Playhouse here too! Needless to say, I’ve been very Blessed to have such amazing experiences in my professional career.

So why did I totally have a super lame awkward fangirl moment when I met Andrew McCarthy from Pretty In Pink??? Ugh. Because I’m a totally normal and real person.

Let me set it up for you. Last week I wrote about how I was attending the Macon Film Festival with my previous husband while coincidentally he was in town from LA visiting our daughter for her birthday. Yah, I know…that’s a whole lot of whaaaaaat???!!! Missed the story? Read the post here. Fast forward to the other night. So my ex-husband and I make the one hour and 45 minute drive to the Macon Film Festival. Yes, you read correctly…ONE HOUR AND FORTY FIVE MINUTES to Macon from my house! Not including traffic and rain on a Thursday rush-hour afternoon. Why did I do this? Because they were showing one of my childhood faves Pretty In Pink on the big screen and the swoon-worthy actor Andrew McCarthy, who starred IN that childhood fave, (aka Blane), was going to be there doing a Q&A before the movie. Plus he’s directed a bunch of my favorite television shows too. (Lipstick Jungle, Gossip Girl) Oh and my previous husband is an actor annnnd it was a local film-festival. Duh. So many reasons and so much fun to be had!

We got to the press conference a few minutes late. Thanks Atlanta traffic! It was just Andrew McCarthy and the Macon Film Festival PR guy doing their thing. Andrew looked lovely. He was funny and articulate and answered questions from us…aka the press. Which means…duh…that’s me. I’m a part of the press. I am a professional. I am a writer. I am there as a professional. I am not just a “fan.” So I think yes… this is my chance to start a dialogue with Andrew McCarthy on a professional level therefore he will take me seriously and not notice the dorky 80’s inner fan girl that is simmering inside. Because you know…I am a “professional” and all. I think of a MILLION questions I want to ask him. Does he hate the term Brat Pack? Why did his show The Family on ABC get cancelled? (My husband and I have been binge-watching it) How did he come to start directing Orange Is The New Black? Is he as obsessed with 80’s music like me. Kidding. Sort of. Where is his favorite place that he’s traveled. (He’s also a fancy schmancy travel writer now too) So I raise my hand and it’s my turn and it goes a little something like this:

Me: So binge-watching is a pretty big thing now. My husband and I are actually in the middle of binge-watching your show, The Family right now and I’m also finishing up this last season of Orange Is The New Black. Being in this business, do you and your wife or you, have shows that you binge-watch? (Me sounding all interviewer-like)

Andrew: Wait, you’re in the middle of watching The Family and you’re here? What are you doing here? You should get home to your husband and finish it. (Laughter from EVERYONE!)

Cut to I wanna die. But I am a “professional” so I can’t die right now. I have to listen for his answer, take it in and not die. He said something to the effect of he really didn’t binge-watch shows cus he doesn’t watch TV. So now I kinda wanna die even more but then he said remembered that wasn’t true and he did just binge watch that Julia Louis-Dryfus show Veep and another show I had never heard of. Question answered and over. I can go die now.

So the Q&A wrapped up and he headed out to go to the theater down the street where Pretty In Pink was being shown and where he had another Q&A session with non press people before the screening started. As he was walking out a few people stopped him for a picture. Not me. I was done. I felt super lame and didn’t want to now ask him for a “picture” like my inner fan girl really wanted to for “work”, because remember, it didn’t reallllly happen unless it’s on social media. HA! So my ex-husband says…come on, just do it and takes my phone. I sheepishly (and you all know me and there is nothing normally sheepish about me), walked up, didn’t even introduce myself and barely mumbled the words…”Hi, I’m sorry, do you have time for one more please?” To which he so kindly and graciously replied…”of course!” I then stood there awkwardly and smiled awkwardly and then the whole awkward moment was over.

And that, is pretty much the end of the meeting Andrew McCarthy from Pretty In Pink story.

All in all, going to the Macon Film Festival was great. Going to the press Q&A was great. Watching Pretty In Pink on the big screen was great. Getting a picture with a childhood crush after being totally lame in front of him was even great too. Because life is about experiences and creating memories. Had I not gone that night, besides not having photographic evidence, I would never have been able to share THIS super awesome story with you that Andrew McCarthy shared with us that night. Ready???? Ok…so when you watch Pretty In Pink now, make sure to pay close attention to Blane’s hair at the end. (You really notice it in the prom scene). It looks super different. Yah…that’s because it’s a wig! A WIG!! Andrew had gone off to do another role and shaved his head. He then had to come back to re-shoot a different ending to Pretty In Pink because John Hughes re-wrote it. Why? Well apparently, when they screened it the first time, the audience was not liking that Andie ended up with Duckie and not with Blane. Soooo Andrew McCarthy had to come back and re-shoot the ending so that Andie ended up with Blane. I mean, just STOP IT! Mind blown.